


Accidents Happen

by dreamofalamprey



Series: John and Pip [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: AU - Graduate Students, Accidental wetting, Dating, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Single Dad Alexander Hamilton, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 05:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15136562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamofalamprey/pseuds/dreamofalamprey
Summary: Philip has an accident when Alexander brings him to class one day. He finds an unlikely comfort in John Laurens.





	Accidents Happen

As far as John had known, Philip had always been a pretty quiet kid. From what Alexander had told him, he was just shy. It had been that way since Eliza had left two years before. John and Alexander had been together for almost six months already, but had yet to tell the five-year-old, lest they evoke any more anxiety than was already noticeable. 

Still, John tried to be nice to the kid. He brought Philip sweets from the grocery store when he stopped by the house, and asked questions he thought he might have the answers to. Somehow, though, Philip still seemed nervous around him. Alexander told him not to take it personally. 

He saw the both of them one morning on the way to a lecture. He raised his eyebrows as he approached Alexander. He seldom brought Philip with him to campus when he could help it. 

"Sitter cancelled on me," he explained, starting towards their hall with John, Philip's little hand in his own big one, "so I Pip'll be joining us in class."

"Ah, nice," said John, looking over to smile at the boy, "although you don't strike me for a law man, Philip."

Philip shrunk into his father at these works, looking at the ground. Alexander tousled his hair. 

"Oh, don't be a stranger," he said, "John's only joking with you."

Trying brush this apparent failure off, John took his hands out of his pockets and stepped forward to pull the door open for Alexander and Philip. 

"Thanks, John."

"Thank you," came Philip's soft voice from down below. 

"You're very welcome."

They walked through the lobby into the hall, taking their seats on the far left. Philip sat in between John and Alexander, his little legs dangling above the ground. He looked especially tiny in the big folding seat. 

Alexander opened his backpack and pulled out his laptop, followed by a pad of paper, some pens, and a bottle of juice. 

"I know this is boring," he said, turning to his son, "but if you can be good and quiet for me just for this class, I'll take you out to do something fun afterwards, okay?"

Philip nodded. 

Alexander handed him the papers, pens, and juice. 

"Here," said John, reaching over to pull up the foldaway desktop for the boy to put his things on. 

This earned him a shy smile. 

It was only a matter of minutes before everyone else shuffled into the hall and the professor began his opening remarks. John uncapped a pen and grabbed his own notebook, much preferring to do things the old-fashioned way. 

The first few minutes of the lecture were rather uneventful. Despite having decided to try and get his Masters alongside Alexander, John wasn't really the academic type. Aside from jotting down a few phrases and definitions every now and then, John found it very difficult to pay attention. 

He watched as Philip scribbled on the pad of paper with an old pen while his father typed away furiously beside him, as though he was worried he would miss something if he didn't take his notes verbatim. 

Laughing to himself, John returned to his own writing, though he couldn't help but feel compelled to check back on Philip from time to time. While there was no part of him that doubted that Alexander was an excellent dad, he did know from experience that the man got distracted easily and might be at risk of unintentionally neglecting the needs of his child for the two hours they were in class. 

Case in point, he didn't notice the couple of minutes that Philip spent struggling to twist the cap off on his bottle of juice. Eventually, watching made John so nervous that he decided to intervene himself, taking the drink from the boy and opening it himself with ease before setting in on the desk. 

For a while after that, though, everything seemed to go rather smoothly. John's own anxiety over spills and messes and upset Alexanders was kept at bay as he watched the level of cranberry juice get lower and lower. He smiled at Philip's doodles of what he thought to be rocket ships and turtles. By the time they were halfway done, he'd also amassed two pages full of notes, a rather impressive feat considering his current track record. 

Of course, it was also halfway through the class that he couldn't help but notice the way that the kid had begin to fidget in his seat, abandoning his drawing in favor of bouncing up and down. Usually, John would contribute this sort of behavior to a kid full of pent-up energy, but that didn't seem to fit Philip's description. He spotted the empty bottle that stood precariously close to the edge of the desk and understood instantly. He looked back at Philip, who was looking at Alexander, who was looking at the large screen at the front of the room, still typing mindlessly into his computer while Philip bobbed up and down anxiously beside him. 

This went on for a couple of minutes before the boy finally made a sound. 

"Daddy," Philip whispered, so soft that John barely heard, "Daddy?"

Alexander didn't seem to hear either. John cleared his throat, reaching over the seats to poke Alexander in the shoulder. 

"Alex."

Alexander turned, looking very annoyed at being interrupted. John could understand why Philip hadn't said anything more. John pointed to Philip so that the kid couldn't see. 

"Oh, what is it, Pip?"

Philip got onto his knees and leaned close to whisper into Alexander's ear. His father looked away for a minute to make sure that he hadn't missed anything on the current slide. 

"I can't take you right now, Philip-" he turned his head and pointed to the door from which they had came- "but if you go back that way and go all the way down the hall, there's a bathroom at the end, okay? Can you be a big boy for me and go by yourself?" 

The crestfallen look on Philip's face did not seem to be an indicator that he could, in fact, go by himself. John furrowed his eyebrows. He got that Alexander took the class seriously, but this seemed ridiculous. Of course, if he was raising a kid by himself, he wouldn't play around when it came to thousand-dollar classes, either. 

"I can take him," he offered, trying to be helpful. 

Philip's mouth opened partway as though he was about to say something to this, but Alexander spoke for him. 

"No," he whispered, not taking his eyes away from the professor, "John's working too. You can either take yourself or wait until it's over."

This seemed to be the end of it. Philip bounced up and down a little while longer, seemingly trying to decide if it was worth it to wait. Eventually, it seemed like he decided he wouldn't be able to hold it for the hour that remained and let out a little whimper before sliding out of his creaking chair and pattered out the way they had came in. John sighed, shaking his head as he turned over a page in his notebook. 

Alexander was going to feel bad about this later. He knew it. He got so fucking preoccupied with school and work that he forgot to just be a person. Maybe this was the reason he always got a babysitter instead of taking Philip with him. 

He thought this was a bit weak, but Alexander was probably right. Philip was six years old, after all. He was perfectly capable of a walk down the hall. John had just gotten so caught up in trying to be on his side that he was overreacting, that was all.

He did begin to worry, though, when Philip did not return after fifteen minutes. It shouldn't have taken that long, even for a little kid. The bathroom was barely one hundred feet away. John looked to Alexander to see if he seemed to have noticed. To little surprise, it seemed that he was just as absorbed in the material as ever.  

Blowing the air out from his cheeks, John decided after a moment's consideration that he'd better go check to make sure everything was okay. Maybe he'd gotten lost? He just wanted to be certain that nothing terrible had happened. It was probably weird that he was worrying about this, but he couldn't help it. 

He got up from his seat and made his way down the hall. He knew another class would be beginning soon, and there were clusters of students all around, texting and talking and loitering. He wove around them on his way to the men's room. 

It seemed empty when he pushed open the door and stepped inside. That was odd. 

"Philip?" 

He leaned down slightly, and saw two little feet standing in the second stall. His voice was met with a sniffle. John frowned.  

"Everything alright, kid?"

There was quiet. Then, something mumbled. John strained his ears, but couldn't make out what the boy was saying. 

"What was that?"

A pause. Another sniffle. 

"I-I had an accident," came Philip's tiny, quiet voice after a couple of seconds.

John didn't know what to do with this answer. He was relieved that he wasn't sick or lost or anything, but he wasn't quite sure how to proceed. 

"Here, can you unlock the door for me, buddy? It's only me out here, I promise."

"Just you?"

"Mhmm."

John watched the lock turn and reached out to pull the door open gently. Philip stood inside, face red and shining with tears, a large wet spot on the front of his pants. He looked at the floor with watering eyes. 

"I'm sorry," he said, sounding dangerously close to sobbing. 

Kneeling down so that he was at Philip's level, John put what he hoped was a comforting hand on the kid's shoulder. 

"Nothing to be sorry for, Pip. Happens to the best of us sometimes."

This seemed to be of little help. A couple more tears slipped down Philip's freckled cheeks. 

"Ah, no," said John, wiping them away, "no, it's alright. What happened, man?"

Philip still had yet to meet John's eyes. 

"I just... I really had to go and Daddy wouldn't c-come with me and there were so many people and I didn't want to bother them a-and-"

He seemed to choke on the last words of this sentence. John understood, though. He patted Philip on the back, trying to make things better.

"Do you want me to go and get your dad?"

Philip shook his head at this.

"He's working," he said quietly. 

John started to tell him that he was more important than any class that Alexander was taking, but Philip wouldn't hear it. He shook his head back and forth. 

"Please don't tell him," he whispered. 

John clicked his tongue, thinking of what to do. 

"Alright," he said, "how about this. We've only got about twenty minutes left... How about we go back to class and you can sit with me and you can finish the drawing you were working on?"

Philip said something John didn't catch. This was becoming a common theme in their relationship. 

"What was that?"

The boy finally looked up at him, eyes swimming with tears and embarrassment. 

"I don't want anyone to see."

John nodded in understanding, heart filling with sympathy. 

"They won't," he said, "here, come out of there-"

As Philip took a tentative step out of the stall, John shrugged off his jacket and held it out for the boy to put on. It looked huge on his little frame, the sleeves covering his hands and the bottom hanging down to his knees. He sniffed. 

"Here, now come on."

John gestured awkwardly for Philip to follow him. The boy came forward and grabbed onto his hand, standing so close that his body brushed against John's leg as they walked. Out in the hallway, the kid shied from the groups of students that were still standing around. John whispered to him not worry, wondering why the hell these people felt the need to stick around for this long. 

When they re-entered the lecture hall, John reached down and picked Philip up, deciding it might be best to just carry him to his seat. He sat down and placed the boy on his knee, trying to be as quiet as possible as to not disturb any other students and pointedly avoiding the weird look that Alexander gave him. He ignored the dampness that soaked through the jacket and the leg of his pants. 

He jiggled his knee slightly, trying to provide a comfort to the boy, who was still flushed and looking upset.

"Hey, Pip," he whispered, getting the boy's attention as he picked up a pen and flipped to a free page in his notebook with his free hand, "I'm gonna draw you a picture, okay? I want you to guess what it is, can you do that?"

Philip nodded. John put the pen to the paper and paused, thinking of something that a kid might appreciate before starting to draw. He put the pen down when he was done. 

"Moose," guessed Philip.

"Mmhmm. Here, what's this-"

John brought the pen down again. 

"Dragon."

"Wow. Okay. You do one."

He handed the pen and notebook to Philip, taking the opportunity to check his watch. Class would be over soon. Philip poked him in the shoulder and showed him what he'd drawn.

"Mmm," said John, squinting, "is it a robot?"

Philip smiled and nodded, before returning to the paper to draw something else. This went on for the remainder of the class. The looks that they attracted, thankfully, were mostly smiling ones, rather than irritated ones. John was grateful for that. He didn't even regret having given up on taking notes. Alexander would lend him his, anyway. 

When the professor wrapped up and people began to leave the room, Alexander closed his computer and turned to look at John and Philip. 

"What's all this about?" he asked, reaching forward to help Philip off of John's lap.

Whatever help John had been over the past half hour seemed to be of little importance when Philip lowered his eyes, threatening to start crying again. Looking alarmed, Alexander pulled him close and hugged him to his chest. 

"What happened, Pip?"

He looked at John for help, clearly lost. 

"There was a little accident," said John, "but nothing we couldn't handle."

He saw the guilt on Alexander's face. He turned to his son and looked him in the eye. 

"Oh, buddy, I'm sorry. Shit, I should have taken you, shouldn't I?" 

Philip said nothing, but only continued to whimper in Alexander's arms. 

"Hey, it's okay," he soothed, rubbing his back, "look, we're about to go home, and it looks like John helped you out when I messed up, yeah?" 

John felt incredibly awkward when Philip gave a little nod and Alexander smiled in his direction. 

"That was nice of him, wasn't it? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Why don't we go home and get you cleaned up and watch a movie? I'll even make you mac and cheese."

The promise of movies and food and leaving campus seemed to make Philip feel considerably better about what had happened. He nodded again, and whispered something else. Alexander smiled. 

"Yes, we should invite John to come with us-"

They both looked at John, who was feeling rather sheepish. 

"I'd love to," he said, smiling. 

Both Hamiltons seemed excited by his response. It took them only a matter of seconds to pack everything up before they were walking out of the building and towards the parking lot. It had grown chilly outside

John clicked his seatbelt, listening to one of Alexander's long-winded stories as they waited for the car to heat up. He smiled. Even though he was cold and tired and smelling of urine and sitting in a dirty car, he felt happier than he'd been in a long time. 

**Author's Note:**

> Always down for prompts and requests // feel free to comment if you have any


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